For most men, the day their wife gives birth is an incredibly joyous occasion.

Months of anticipation give way to heart-warming ecstasy as the happy couple welcome their new child into the world.

For Ryan Harman-Taylor, however, his joy quickly turned to anger. The carpenter, 31, from Weston-super-Mare, returned home from the hospital only to find his van had been broken into and the majority of his work tools gone.

Ryan had left his tools in the van that day because he’d received the call that his wife was in labour.

Recalling the incident, he said: “I had left a number of high value tools in the van that I wouldn’t normally have done, but due to the urgency of the call I did.”

Left, Ryan Harman-Taylor, who was re-united with his tools by PC Alice Durston, right

Ryan rushed to hospital to be with his wife. The following evening he returned home with his three-year-old son, he was exhausted from the day’s events and went straight to bed.

In the morning he checked in on his van and was shocked to find the door wide open and virtually empty. The 31-year-old reported the incident to police who began investigating.

Ryan said: “Just the day before I was on cloud nine after the arrival of my new baby girl and suddenly I was in this hellish situation.

“Around £19,000 worth of equipment was taken. When I collected my wife from the hospital I didn’t want to worry her, but I knew I couldn’t lie.

“She was devastated; all the joy we had the day before was gone and we were left with worry about our family’s future.”

Police launched an appeal to find the owners of stolen power tools (Image: Twitter / ASPWeston-super-Mare)

Ryan found himself in a very difficult situation, without his tools he couldn’t fulfil any of his work commitments.

He said: “I’m self-employed and I’ve worked very hard to build my business up. It wasn’t just about the financial loss for us, my customers are people I’ve worked with for years and I felt embarrassed I couldn’t provide them with the good service they deserved.”

Avon and Somerset police had been investigating a series of tool thefts in the area when they received information on two men acting suspiciously on a bike path, one suspect fled and the other was arrested after being found in possession of a range of high value power tools.

Neighbourhood PC Mark Savage said: “After searching the property of the 33-year-old suspect, we found a large collection of power tools and he was therefore arrested.

“We retrieved all the tools from the property and began matching tools to their owners. We successfully reunited four owners with their tools off the back of an event we advertised on Twitter.

Ryan was unsuccessful in locating his tools, so he continued his search on social media, convinced someone might try to make a sale online. He happened across a Facebook post advertising a Makita saw for £60.

He said: “I looked closely at the picture and recognised it straight away. It wasn’t a saw it was the grinder gifted to me on the completion of my apprenticeship when I was 18 years old.”

The 31-year-old asked a friend to get in touch and after he got the address details he passed them on to Neighbourhood PC Alice Durston.

She said: “We went along to the address and found a large number of power tools in the shed. We let Ryan know we had found another haul and he obtained photographic proof of his tools and we dropped them off. He was very happy and we were glad we could help.”

Ryan said: “I’m just so glad I got my tools back, they represent a big part of my life and some of them have been with me from the very start of my career. I’d like to say a big thanks to the police for their help and for keep our community safe.”